(CNN) – Imagine hip discomfort so painful it hurts to run, walk and even sit. Then imagine finding out you lived your whole life with an undiagnosed hip disorder, and that your hip socket is actually in the wrong place.

One fitness coach is making the most out of her challenging and painful diagnosis.

“It was sharp and stabbing, it didn’t really matter if I was sitting or standing.”

Greer Craig suffered from hip dysplasia.

“Hip dysplasia is just an abnormality in the way the hip is formed. It could be a dislocation where the ball and the socket aren’t in the right position or anything in between.”

Treatments like acupuncture, pain medication and physical therapy can help patients manage their pain, but Dr. Schrader says surgery or a hip replacement are the only ways to fix the problem.

“What we’re doing is repositioning the socket. We position it into an ideal position for that particular hip and for that particular patient, and then hold it in that corrective position with screws.”

What’s more difficult than the approximately three hour surgery, is the recovery which generally takes six to eight weeks.

“It was pretty awful, just from a pain standpoint, and my husband was right by my side because I couldn’t engage my core to even sit up.”

Greer made sure to get a lot of sleep and eat anti-inflammatory foods to reduce any remaining inflammation.

She used ice and heat as needed, and also began a physical therapy regimen.

“We’re working on my supporting accessory muscles to help minimize some of that pain.”

She still has another surgery to remove the four screws in her hip. After that, it looks like Greer is on track for a full recovery.